Apple Rumored to Build its Own Chips As It Buy Into A Chip Fab

According to SemiAccurate, a site with a poor track record of rumors about Apple products, Apple just bought a fabrication plant, backing up the rumors that the Cupertino giant may start manufacturing their own chips.

Apple has just done something that SemiAccurate has been expecting for months and entered the fab industry. No we are not joking, Apple just bought into a fab, and not in a trivial way either.

There are no details about the company that Apple has invested in but by looking at the tags, it can be guessed that the rumored company is UMC, United Microelectronics Corporation. UMC is a Taiwanese based manufacturer established in 1980, which have been connected to Apple in a few rumors in the past.

Now, we all know that all the iDevices are powered by ARM chips which are provided the leading smartphone manufacturer, Samsung. Due to the strong rivalry between the two companies, one may suggest that Apple is trying to move away from Samsung and manufacture their own chips.

More rumors suggest that Apple has signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. who will be the company’s chipmaking partner, beginning 2014. The news has also been confirmed by Wall Street Journal, who said that TSMC will begin the production of chips beginning 2014.

Well, to be honest, I don’t know how much truth lies in this rumor. Apple, buying a fabrication plant for chip production? I cant say if its 100 percent true. The track record of SemiAccurate is not very good when it comes to rumors about Apple. Early in 2011, the site mentioned that Apple is moving away from Intel to ARM processor for its laptops which didn’t bear any fruit. The only rumor the site accurately predicted was when Apple switched back to Nvidia in its 2012 Macbook lineup.